Some might say that Call of Duty has lost its way. Not just in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of aesthetics and a variety of other factors that simply aren’t resonating well with the game’s huge fanbase, many of whom became fans of the series ages ago when it was primarily a PC FPS and remain to this day.
For the most part, most of the game’s hardcore fans got into the game with the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare—the defining title in the series and one that shaped every sequel that followed.
Fans of classic Black Ops and Modern Warfare have started a campaign to encourage Activision to “make Call of Duty great again,” a play on the same words that define Donald Trump’s campaign to become the US president. They’ve initiated the campaign through hashtags like #BringBackCoD and #MakeCoDGreatAgain on Twitter, and have cited, among many things, their dislike of the game’s recent free-running or parkour additions and gimmicks like powersliding and other acrobatics that have turned the once ground-based, military shooter into a high-speed free-for-all.
Call of Duty was never realistic, but it always had some grounding in reality, even in multiplayer. Players, who once did battle in realistic warzones reminiscent of what we might see in war footage of World War II or Operation Desert Storm, now find themselves shooting at each other in water parks and kung-fu dojos inspired by 1970s Jackie Chan movies. Personally, I enjoy the game’s shift towards more vibrant, fantastic settings, but this particular group of fans is having none of it.
They’ve shared the following image as an example of how Call of Duty has changed, and they don’t like it.
The Call of Duty commentator Whitestboy7thst has been a vocal proponent of this section of the Call of Duty fanbase, putting out a video addressing the changes between Modern Warfare and Black Ops 3 and what, in their opinion, went wrong with the series. Besides the aesthetic, these fans have complaints that echo all across the board over issues like paid Supply Drops. Other topics include the series’ move away from being a “war simulator” to a sci-fi shooter. Here’s his video.
But hey, if you ask me, there’s only so many times Infinity Ward and Treyarch can make the same World War II shooter before the experience gets really, really old.
